The French Luka Mkheidze and Cédric Revol were eliminated as soon as they entered the competition in the -60 kg category, Sunday on the first day of the World Judo Championships in Doha.
Exempted from the first round, Mkheidze was knocked out in the second round by Belgian Jorre Verstraeten during extra time.
The surprise medalist from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 had recorded good results at the start of the year after a ten-month absence due to injury. He notably won the Grand Slams in Tel Aviv in February and Antalya in March.
“I couldn’t even express myself, my competition ended after five minutes. Months of preparation… I’m hugely disappointed,” Mkheidze said.
“A lot of frustration because I prepared well for this competition. The objective of the year remained the Worlds. I don’t have a (world) medal yet so it was really important to me to bring back a medal”, he added.
A little earlier, Cédric Revol lost in the first round, beaten by ippon by South Korean Jeon Seungbeom.
